Ground & center

Star: "The candle is lit, the ritual has begun."

Blackwood: "Beltane is a time of love...for the Goddess and the God meet for the first time as lovers on this day. Love is important to the cycle of life, for love binds a mother to her children, binds lovers together, and binds people to each other in general. This is also a fertility holiday...in some legends, the God is reborn this day, as he impregnates himself into the Goddess. At Litha he will begin his decline after being challenged by the Holly King for supremacy, but now he is still waxing, and in his glory as the Green Man, as out Lady is The Queen of the May! We, as a group of females, cannot properly enact the Great Rite in actuality...but always remember that it is intent that governs our magicks and our worship, and that many, many successful covens and solitary Witches enact the Great Rite as we shall...symbolicly.

That said, we can rest easy in the knowledge that our own passions can be consecrated this night...and those things that keep us from them can be banished! But let us now call the elements, and ask them to join us on this Sabbat."

Earth-Water Consecration:
Foxglove & Star
(Do ask you please)

Fire-Air Consecration:
Wolfwings & Blackwood
(Do as you please)

Foxglove: "We invoke the elements here, to share in mirth and banish fear."

Foxglove faces the North and says:
"Hail to thee, Powers at North
I stand here and call ye forth
To come to circle at Beltane
Bring your love, we'll give the same.
Merry Meet, Blessed Earth,
Steadfast One, fertile birth

Wolfwings faces East:
Hail to thee, Powers of Air
I face the East, you come from there
Now come to circle at Beltane
Bring your love, we'll give the same
Meery Meet, Sacred Breath,
Beltane means no fear of death.

Star faces South:
Hail to thee, Southern Fire
Harken ye to my desire
Come to circle at Beltane
Bring your love, we'll give the same
Meery Meet, Sacred Flame,
transformation is your fame

Blackwood faces West:
Hail to thee, Water-West,
I call to thee, please join our fest!
Come to circle at Beltane
Bring your love, we'll give the same
Merry Meet, Blessed Wave,
Intuition's Gift you gave

All say in Unison (or a guest may say):
Hail to thee, Center Space
Spirit Realms and Sacred Place
Unite us all on Beltane's Day
And when we part, with us stay
Uniter of the elements
Make it so we'll not forget!

Wolfwings invokes the goddess, using her own words, or these:
"Sacred Queen of the May,
You I do invoke this day.
Silver Lady, flower-born,
Perfection given mortal form.
Maiden-fair, virgin bride
Reflection of a lover's sigh.
Moon-sister, ever young,
Singing for the rising sun.
Come to circle, we welcome you;
take the old and make it new!
All of Spring is in your thrall;
Queen of the Maytide, heed my call!"

Blackwood invokes the god, using her own words, or these:
"Herne, Cernunnos,
Leaf Lord, Pan,
You are animal,
You are Man.
I call you out
From glade and wood;
Arthur, Osiris,
Robin Hood.
Embodied Myth
From Realms of Lore;
Sacred Teachings
Unchanged at core.
Oak King, Holly King,
Bacchus, Baal;
Lord of the Greenwood
Heed my call!"

Star casts the circle with these, or similar words:
"I cast this circle to bring us between the worlds. Today we celebrate love in all it's forms, and passion in all it's myriad maifestations, and I cast this circle in the name of Love itself. On Beltane especially, let this be a Circle of Love. So mote it be."

Coven echos, "so mote it be."

Star: "We are between the worlds! Where life and death, sorrow and joy, gods and men, meet as One."

Wolfwings:
"Our work will be banishing, in the Beltane fire, those things which are keeping us from love. Also, banishing any obstacles to any projects we currently have in the works. Then, we will use the Beltane fire to scry and tell us how to bring love into our lives, and then we will leap the bonfire to purify ourselves!"

Coveners gather around cauldron, wherein there lies hardly anything...ashes at most.

Star begins:
"This night we extinguish all fires, and relight the fire of our Lord of the greenwood. It will quicken as He quickens the Lady, the Queen of the May; and from this fire, we shall light all of our other fires and bring light to our eyes, warmth to our bodies and joy to the reawakened Earth."

Wolfwings continues:
"Why do we extinguish our fires?"

Coven:
"To rid ourselves of the last trace of the past season...Winter's Need Fire."

Wolfwings:
"What will we do without our fire?"

Coven:
"We will not do without; we will create our own fire!"

Wolfwings:
"How will we make our own fire?"

Coven:
"We will kindle our own spirits, and the Spirit of Life that the Lady and Lord bring to us."

Star takes a veil and covers her face with it; she is now the representation of the magickal Will of the coven. She takes as much time as she needs to feel this. She then goes about the circle, widdershins, and slowly and silently, extinguishes all the candles....ALL of the candles, including the ritual Lamp of Art. As she is doing this, Foxglove will say:

"With the banishing of the old flames, we banish Winter's cold. We banish the negativity of the past year, and we banish our fears of the future. Silently goes our Will, and the flames die."

The coven watches her extinguish the flames, and they should know and consentrate on the fact that with the dieing of the light, with every flame extinguished, a fear or obstable dies or fades away. Their own Will makes it so.

Star returns, takes off the veil and comes back to being herself. When she nods, they can continue.

Blackwood sings out:
"Time for a new Need Fire!"

The coven joins in with shouts of their own along this line. A match is taken in Foxglove's hand as she says:

"This is the Fire in the sky. A force of the Sky Lord, the Sacred Sun who returns to warm the earth. It is all potential, yet ready for action."

Foxglove holds the striker, and says:
"This is the earth beneath us. Staid and true, yet it can produce wonders, just as the the Earth Mother can. It waits, ready for the caress of the sky."

She strikes the match, saying:
"Sky strikes the Earth! And sacred fire is born. Blessed be!"

Coven echos, "blessed be."

Foxglove then lights the tinder in the cauldron, others put in wood as appropriate to help it burn. Then the coven takes turns putting in the nine sacred woods in the Beltane fire, in this order, and they chant as they do so:

Nine woods in the Cauldron go,
Burn them fast and burn them slow
-Birch in the fire goes
To represent what the Lady knows
-Oak gives the forest towers might
In the fire brings the God's insight
-Rowan is the tree of power
Causing life and magick to flower
-Willows at the waterside stand
To aid the journey to the Summerland
-Hawthorn is burned to purify
And draw faerie to your eye
-Hazel, the tree of wisdom and learning
Adds its strength to the bright fire burning
-White are the flowers of Apple tree
That brings us fruits of fertility
-Grapes that grow upon the vine
Giving us both joy and wine
-Fir does mark the evergreen
To represent immortality seen

All together say:
Elder is the Lady's tree
Burn it not or cursed you'll be

The coven then exclaims, "the Belfire is alight!" and whoops it up a bit.

Write on papers things that keep you from loving; banish in fire.

Banish obstacles in the fire.

Scrye a bit.